This is What Democracy Looks Like

 

5/9/25 Jackson Federal Building, downtown Seattle

For a while now, Seattle’s concerned citizens have been meeting weekly on Federal Building Fridays to show solidarity with federal workers and express general resistance of the current presidency. On a sunny afternoon outside the Jackson Federal Building, they chanted discontent through megaphones and carried signs: “No fascist USA!” “Where’s my constitution?” “We don’t want your Swastikars!” My favorite was “The Turd Reich.”

I’m not good at counting crowds, but probably 50 or more people showed up for the noontime rally. Passing cars continually honked their support, and participants waved back. Music could occasionally be heard. Although their messages were strong and serious, they had a friendly, almost happy, attitude – not angry and certainly not violent.

This is what democracy looks like.

Old and New Around the Roastery

 

5/7/25 Melrose & Pike area, Capitol Hill

Although USk Seattle had an outing at the Starbucks Reserve Roastery last year, I missed that one, so our outing on Wednesday was the first time I’d sketched in the area in years – probably since before the pandemic. At the border between downtown and Capitol Hill, that vibrant part of town is one of my favorites to sketch. It’s an interesting mix of traditional and modern architecture.

Probably the most traditional and certainly most majestic building in the area is the dome-topped First Covenant Church. I did a wonky job this time, but I made a better rendition of it several years ago.

As a counter to that one, I also sketched the high-rise Nexus condo building, which opened just in time for the pandemic. It looks like messily stacked boxes that have been taped together just as messily. Because each “box” is slightly askew, I thought the design would hide any angle errors or sloppiness on my part, but it was still very challenging to draw. Compared to all the other identical glassy boxes downtown, I like this one’s distinctively funky look.

Around the corner from the Roastery is the Voodoo Doughnut shop that opened last year. Since I had already indulged at Portland’s original Voodoo (and decided it was overrated), I passed this time and instead sketched its corner (one of the area’s older buildings, which happens to be bright pink).

Eventually I went inside the Roastery to share a table with Michele and Kim. Of course, I couldn’t resist getting an overpriced but beautifully presented beverage – a seasonal ube coconut latte.

I’d like to get back to the area again this summer, either with USk or by myself – I snapped several photos to remind myself of things I still want to sketch.

Fremont Peak Park

 

5/5/25 Fremont Peak Park

“You’d have to be a squirrel to reach even that lowest branch.”

Standing at the foot of a tree, he was looking straight up, a stance that piqued my curiosity. When I asked what he was looking at, he said it was just the sheer height of the relatively slender fir trees – so tall that neither of us could see their tops.

A young man staying in the area to take care of his grandmother, Isiah said he walks to Fremont Peak Park often to sit and think among those tall pines. I told him it was my first visit to the park, which was tricky to find even with Google assistance. Well hidden, this gem of a pocket park’s main attraction is a spectacular, unobstructed view of the Olympics (see below). Isiah encouraged me to come at sunset when that west view is even more spectacular. He said now that the sun sets so late, neighbors come by with wine glasses in hand to soak up the golden hour.

His favorite time, though, is right after sunset when color still lingers above the horizon, and Magnolia and Ballard shimmer below.

At midday, these round sculptures hardly cast shadows. Lines on the ground indicate the solstices and equinoxes – a year-round sundial (I plan to come back on the summer solstice). What struck me was that drawing instructors should bring their students here to practice shading spheres. More fun than the contrived tennis ball setup most instructors use.

My exploration of Fremont Peak Park was the result of reading about it in the Seattle Stairway Walks book. Yes, it involved some stairs – but only 77 this time (nothing compared to last week). More arduous were all the non-stepped, very steep hills in that part of Fremont/Phinney Ridge. Just like the Street Trees of Seattle book helped to guide my fitness walks last summer, I’ve decided to use the Stairway Walks book to do the same this summer. Most routes described in the book are fairly long (5 miles or 2-plus hours), so I don’t intend to do full routes as written. I’ll break them up into shorter routes to suit my available time and, of course, sketch potential.

One of the best views in the city of the Olympics -- a well-kept secret!

Fitness Walking Through Fremont

 

5/2/25 Fremont neighborhood

This chunk of the Berlin Wall stands outside Milstead & Company Coffee.

Now that the weather is improving, I’m hoping to take more fitness walks in other neighborhoods. Fremont was the first to come to mind: While it has plenty of fun things to sketch, it’s also a bit of a pain to get to because parking is scarce. My solution was to park in Wallingford, where the neighborhood streets offer plenty of free, unlimited parking, and then walk the easy 20 minutes to Fremont.

In addition to sketching a couple of my favorite Fremont icons (the Troll and J. P. Patches & Gertrude), I discovered a small P-Patch that’s difficult to see unless you climb up to the Aurora Bridge pedestrian overpass.

The highlight was taking a break at Milstead & Company Coffee, which has outdoor seating with a fantastic view of the Aurora Bridge. I wished I had left more than a couple square inches of space for it on my sketchbook spread, but I also didn’t want to start a fresh page and break the continuity of the “story.” I’d like to come back some day to sketch the same scene larger, but Milstead must be the only coffee shop in Seattle that doesn’t offer decaf! I suppose I’ll have to make a special trip first thing in the morning.

Overall, the afternoon was ideal: Good weather, fun sketches and fitness walking achieved!

Howe Street Stairs

 

5/1/25 Views from Blaine and Howe Streets

Gulp.

When I was in my 20s, I participated in a fundraiser that involved climbing to the top of Columbia Center – all 1,311 steps of the 73-story building. (Called The Big Climb, the annual fundraiser is still ongoing.) Needless to say, that was the greatest number of stairs I’ve ever climbed in one shot (although some areas of Porto often felt about the same).

When Ching first told me about the 293 steps of the Blaine Street stairs, she said she learned about them from her fellow mountain climbers who used the stairway to train. It turns out that other types of athletes as well as firefighters train on the same stairway, reputed to be the longest and steepest in Seattle.

I recalled reading about that stairway in a book I’ve had for a while: Seattle Stairway Walks: An Up-and-Down Guide to City Neighborhoods. Pulling it off a bookshelf (yes, it survived my massive bookcase downsizing), I read about many unique views seen from the walk, including the very well-hidden gem, Streissguth Garden. Intrigued, I waited for the next fair day to give it a go.

First I climbed down the Blaine Street stairs, sketching along the way, enjoying all those views. Unfortunately, what goes down must come up. Running parallel to Blaine a block away is Howe Street, which has only 270 steps. I took those – up. As for athletes in training, several passed me in both directions.

Although Howe Street pales in comparison with Columbia Center, my legs are now 40 years older. With ice cream as my reward, I lived to tell the tale.

Streissguth Garden

A peek-a-boo view of Lake Union from Streissguth Garden

Fishermen’s Terminal For USk Week

5/4/25 Fishermen's Terminal

The first week of May is the annual international Urban Sketchers Week to help promote the activities of the community and local chapters. A new initiative this year was to pair local chapters and encourage them to share their sketches with each other virtually. USk Seattle was paired with USk Delhi, a large, active group whose members have been sharing daily on social media.

For our part, USk Seattle had a huge turnout at Fishermen’s Terminal, one of our perennial favorite locations and the site of our very first outing ever. We didn’t plan the outing to land on this date, but it happened to be the Terminal’s annual memorial service to honor people in the fishing industry who were lost at sea. I was happy to be able to capture that.

Although we were treated to lovely sunshine and a mostly clear sky, the wind was brisk and harsh at times. Still, there’s nothing like being part of the Urban Sketchers community, both worldwide and right here at home. Happy USk Week! 

Playing Tourist at Lake Union Park

 

4/30/25 Lake Union Park

 

After Gas Works, my favorite Seattle park is Lake Union Park. (It’s probably not a coincidence that the two parks, each visible from the other from across the water, are on opposite ends of Lake Union; I grew up on Lake Washington, so a fondness for lakes is in my blood.) Although Roy has been a long-time Seattle-area resident, he had never visited or sketched there. Since Lake Union Park is one of the places I like to bring out-of-town visitors, I decided to play tour guide for him last Wednesday, which actually enabled me to feel like a tourist, too.

Another first for him was riding the South Lake Union Trolley (affectionately called the SLUT by locals), which I hadn’t ridden in a long time myself. It’s always fun to experience familiar things through the fresh eyes of first-timers.

I really enjoyed making these pages of on-location comics, so I’ll stop talking and let you read the commentary yourself.